THE OFFICIAL SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
April 21, 2022
Michigan Shakespeare Festival
Announces Renaissance 2022 Season
Canton, MI- The Michigan Shakespeare Festival, the Official Shakespeare Festival of the State of Michigan, announced the return of the MainStage Festival Season for 2022.
The MSF, like many professional arts organizations, went dark due to Covid, which is why Artistic Director Janice L Blixt says the entire organization is looking upon 2022 as a Renaissance – a true rebirth - for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. For the first in time in their 27-year history, the MSF will be performing their entire run at The Village Theatre of Cherry Hill in Canton. “We’re so pleased that our home in Canton is welcoming us back for 2022, and we’re thrilled to be able to rehearse and tech and open our shows at the Village Theatre,” Blixt said. The three MainStage shows will be the heroic and epic drama HENRY V, featuring Ann Arbor native and Festival Favorite Sam Hubbard as the king, the bubbly bright comedy THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR being directed by award-winning Artistic Associate Robert Kauzlaric, and the silly farce CHARLEY’S AUNT by Brandon Thomas featuring Edmund Alyn Jones.
Focusing on the events prior to and following the famous Battle of Agincourt, HENRY V tells the story of one of Britain’s greatest kings – and the man behind the title. The final piece of Prince Hal’s story first played out in HENRY IV, parts 1 & 2 (Award-Winning MSF production from 2015) where we saw the wild and angry young man as he grew into a leader of men. One of Shakespeare’s most famous histories, HENRY V features some of the most famous scenes and speeches in the cannon. Directed by MSF Artistic Director Janice L Blixt
Mistress Page and Mistress Ford have a very large problem – a drunken rogue who won’t leave them alone. Sir John Falstaff is short of money and on the hunt for a lady willing to take him on and pay his bills. The ladies get together and hatch a hilarious plan to thwart the pest – if only their husbands are able to stay out of the way. THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR is famously the result of Queen Elizabeth I demanding that Shakespeare write a play featuring Falstaff (from HENRY IV, parts 1 & 2) falling in love – and how else could such a request play out?
Jack and Charley have fallen in love with Kitty and Amy – who are being sent away to Scotland by Amy’s Uncle – who is also Kitty’s guardian. The guys invite their loves to lunch – where they intend to declare their intentions and to meet Charley’s slightly eccentric Aunt Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez. What follows is a wacky, silly, romantic comedy full of starchy relatives, clever servants, and Lord Fancourt Babberley. CHARLEY’S AUNT was a sensation upon opening, running 1,466 performances—come take a break this summer and join us for the mayhem. Adapted and directed by Blixt.
The third show on the MSF calendar is always a classical play from a playwright other than Shakespeare.
2022 will also feature beloved Festival actors Alan Ball & Jason Briggs and designers Aly Renee Amidei, Emily McConnell, and Melanie Schuessler-Bond.
2022 Season tickets are on sale soon—go to michiganshakespearefestival.com for more information.
The 2022 Season is being partially supported by the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts / Arts Works Program,
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
After being dark for two long years, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival is coming back strong for 2022—and we want you to be part of our renaissance! We’re calling our upcoming 26th MainStage Season "MSF Renaissance 2022," featuring a larger Opening Night Gala, more after-glow parties, more of our classic Bard Talks and Company Q&As.
Today is Giving Tuesday, and we're sure as patrons of the arts, you're being bombarded with requests. So, rather than ask for a large end-of-year gift, we at the MSF want to make gifts available to you. To that end, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival is thrilled to announce our new partnership with Patreon.
Most of you might know Patreon as a platform for individual artists, but the site also has many non-profit arts organizations. With their mission to “Change the Way Art is Valued," Patreon is a perfect venue for your tax-deductible donation, as it allows us to give directly back to you!
This partnership allows us to enhance our membership levels for our 2022 Renaissance Season and beyond. You see, more helpful than a large single donation is sustained giving, be it $5 a month, or $500+. Our partnership with Patreon allows you to choose a level of support, accompanied by levels of rewards. Choose from a weekly newsletter of our online content to a selection of t-shirts and other swag to exclusive MSF access to fight calls, first rehearsal read-throughs, and other company fun – with lots of levels in between.
The benefit of our new partnership with Patreon is their many years of trusted arts support and global visibility for a cause that’s near and dear to all our hearts: the continuation of the MSF.
We're asking you to join us, at any level of giving. Visit our Patreon site and explore our various levels of Giving. Truly, while we value our large donors, we would rather have a hundred donors at $5 than one at $500. After all, Shakespeare fans are a community. Dare we say - a band of brothers.
Support our Renaissance season of HENRY V, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, and Brandon Thomas' CHARLIE'S AUNT by becoming a Member of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival!
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival is a fully vaccinated workplace, and all artists and administrative staff will be masked, only excepting for the actors while they are performing.
For the health and security of our artists and our audiences, as well as the safety of our staff, The Michigan Shakespeare Festival has implemented the following policy* for the 2022 MSF Renaissance Season:
Proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 is required to attend any MainStage performance.
Children under 12 years of age and patrons with a medical condition that prevents vaccination must provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 PCR test (within the last 48 hrs prior to the performance) or a rapid Antigen test (the day of performance) to attend a performance.
Masks, that cover both nose and mouth, are required at all times for audiences and visitors regardless of vaccination status.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. We want to see you all on the other side of this.
We’ll see you soon.
Janice L Blixt
Producing Artistic Director
On behalf of the Board and Associates of
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival
*subject to change as science and medical professionals dictate
Monday, July 12, 2021
Dear Friends,
We are beginning the work to reopen for next year - it will be a year of rebirth of our company after having been dark for two years and it will be a year of change in terms of a lot of our business-as-usual methods. We're very much looking forward to it.
So, we announce the beginning of the MSF Renaissance 2022:
we will bring back our touring company, hopefully a reading or two, and a glorious MainStage Season next summer.
We are a fully vaccinated company.
We are an anti-racist company.
We are an inclusive company.
We are a "Not In Our House" company.
We thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you again as soon as we're able and you're amenable.
Without you, there is no us.
We’ll see you soon.
Janice L Blixt
Producing Artistic Director
On behalf of the Board and Associates of
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival
Monday, April 12, 2021
Dear Friends,
With heavy hearts, we are announcing that we will not be producing our 2021 MainStage Season. We will remain dark this summer.
Many different factors combined for this decision. We had issues with our venues, with our usual housing, and with our unions all based on new Covid protocols and all of these factors would have made production very difficult this summer.
But our main focus is the safety and comfort of our audiences, and based on the surveys we've conducted on views of attending live theatre in the next few months, a large majority of our supporters feel uncomfortable returning so soon to indoor productions. We were so grateful to see that 99% of respondents (and we had over 550) said they are looking forward to attending live theatre again - and we understand completely the 73% of respondents who didn't feel they would attend a live indoor production before 2022.
Therefore, we have made what we feel is the responsible choice to remain dark for summer of 2021 and put our energy and focus into bringing back our wonderful MiSFITs Touring Company in winter of 2022 to again perform for high schools in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and the return to MainStage glory in summer of 2022.
If you have tickets purchased for 2020 and have rolled them over to 2021, we are able to continue the rollover to 2022 - or we are able to refund the costs. Please call the office at 517.998.3673 and leave a message with your name and a return number - or email us at GM@michiganshakespearefestival.com to let us know your preferences.
We thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you again as soon as we're able and you're amenable.
Without you, there is no us.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. We want to see you all on the other side of this.
We’ll see you soon.
Janice L Blixt
Producing Artistic Director
On behalf of the Board and Associates of
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival
Monday, November 9, 2020
Thank you, EncoreMichigan and the Wilde Awards, for your appreciation of our 2019 Season - we very much appreciate you and all you do for professional theatre in Michigan.
(Due to this year's pandemic, the critics of Encore were unable, as a group, to see all of the nominated productions. So this season, the awards are "Best of" and there are multiple winners in all categories.)
Monday, July 21, 2020
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Dear Friends,
With theatres closing throughout the country, this is probably a notice you’ve been expecting.
Nevertheless, I regret to inform you that the Michigan Shakespeare Festival is going dark this year. We will not produce our 2020 Mainstage Season.
A wide variety of factors went into this decision. For one, our artist housing at Jackson College is, rightly, currently occupied by the medical staff and first responders for the hospital. We have never been more proud of our partnership with the college than we are now.
But the main factor is the health and safety of our artists and our audiences. Part of the joy of theatre is that it is a community experience, a shared breath, four hundred hearts thrilling, four hundred voices laughing. But this moment, as happened during Shakespeare’s day, that very community experience is an invitation to this virus. To offer shows now would be irresponsible, and we would never put you at risk.
Many of you have already purchased tickets for the upcoming season. We want to be as respectful of that investment in us as possible. Many theatre patrons across the country are turning advance ticket purchases into donations. If you are able to do that, we thank you. That donation will go towards payroll for our staff, rent for our office and off-season storage, office expenses, insurance costs – the things that don’t go away when we’re not able to produce.
However, with so many people suddenly not working, we understand that a donation might not be possible. If you like, we can roll your ticket over to the 2021 Season, where we know we will be producing Henry V, directed by Janice L Blixt, and The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Robert Kauzlaric, along with a third classical show (it may or may not be Charlie’s Aunt. For 2020, we wanted some lighthearted fare during what we expected to be deep political drama. While we very well may need laughs next year, we’ll see what 2021 looks like. Mystery Show!)
If neither a donation nor a roll-over reservation is possible for you, we completely understand. In the next weeks we’ll have the process set up for refunds. We ask you to be patient—this is not something we’ve dealt with before.
In the interim, we will keep posting content to our Facebook page and Twitter account - we’re enjoying our “MSF Unplugg’d: Artists in their own Residences” series. We have some projects in mind to offer as entertainment this summer and into the fall. We have noted, as we’re sure you have, that during this time of trouble, people are turning to art to feed their souls and hearts. As Claudio notes in Measure For Measure, “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.”
When we come back—and we will come back—the world may well be different. We’d be lying if we said losing this season was not a blow, that we didn’t need your support moving forward. But that’s for the future.
At the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, we care deeply about the work we do, the experiences we create, the joys of classical theatre. We care about you more. After all, without an audience, theatre is just people being silly in cool clothes in a well-designed room.
Without you, there is no us.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. We want to see you all on the other side of this.
We’ll see you soon.
Janice L Blixt
Producing Artistic Director
On behalf of the Board and Associates of
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival